BTB Profile 01: Cartel Bowties

Our BowTieBanditz curiosity was piqued by the funky, fun bow tie lines we discovered on Instagram, as offered by Florida-based Cartel Bowties. Come 'ere! This is what we found out!
 

"What had been a passion for wearing bow ties became a passion for sharing them, and in 2014 Cartel_bow_ties by Fashion Cartel of Orlando was born – launched with a collection of 7 Bow ties. We  expanded our product line to include neckties, pocket squares, and scarves. Over the year, in response to customer suggestions and requests, we have continued to expand our offerings to include more accessories and apparel – for men and women."

Cartel seems to encompass a lot of what's good about the BT Revival (BTR). They are a web-based company, embracing the versatility of the virtual in accepting orders online or via email, offering their affordable designs to all of the U.S. as well as internationally. As an active part of the BTR, they are pretty much content with the bow tie-wearing community. With their feet panted firmly in the camp of both sexes, they thoroughly embrace the idea of the bow tie as a modern unisex accessory. Hurrah!

That said, these Southern Gents believe that it still takes a certain amount of self-assurance to join the BTHood, so what they would really like to see is even more people being confident enough to trade in their neckties and scarves for a bow.


Betty Boop

 
From their website and instagram pages, they cater to all tastes, incorporating traditional block colours through fun patterns and varied textures to entire themes.

Ever since they started, this was the aim of the business - to be versatile and offer a large variety for different crowds, priding themselves in catering for everyone, in every genre and every age group. 




Whilst the Cartel Bowtie signature might appear to be the slim-line standard bat wing, they are happily in the process of offering all styles across their designs, inviting suggestions from their ever-growing clientele.

They realise that with a resurgence of BT
popularity comes a ready-made, alternative channel for self-expression - a way to reflect an individual's different personal and professional needs and interests.

These guys are self-taught and pride themselves in creating each bow tie according to their own hand-making technique. They proceed in the belief that anything hand-made allows greater freedom to be more creative and do more with the fabrics at hand. In short, Cartel believe that a personally-made product is more personable - a definite advantage over being machine-made to “standard”.
 
Of course, creating products by hand also makes it easy to offer a bespoke service, as well as an efficient, custom made-to-order service - another source for the expanding variety of their eclectic, fun inventory.  

A Cartel Bowtie can be made for fans of the self-tied and pre-tied styles, though their clients usually stick with one kind or the other - especially the self-tied lovers. Understandably, it's those clients who are still exploring their personal style, who are maybe new to the BThood, who like to try out different styles and mix 'n' match their options.

Racks

The majority of their inventory is produced in cotton, which is partially a creative choice. Whilst they love working with cotton, they also believe that,

"... creativity is not the material itself; it’s what you do with that material which makes it creative. Cotton is a great fabric to work with, but it is not versatile enough to exclude other fabrics, especially when it comes to elegance. Cotton is more casual." - Frantz Lesperance, Cartel Bowties.

Oh, this 'cotton-picking' has no relation to the Florida heat or humidity, so products in other fabrics are on offer as well.



Black and Gold

We BowTieBanditz particularly like the Racks and the Black and Gold. We love Couture and high concept fashion, but there's something about wearing your wealth of dollar bills so obviously on display, and matching the traditionally demure black with the flash and dazzle of gold... They're both so very un-English, and that appeals to our BTB sense of fun and swag. 

Cartel also offer more unusual designs such as Skyline (above) - a button. On your bow. Seriously original!

Perhaps understandably, the current popular lines are the Marvel Collection and Star Wars influenced designs, which have been selling "... like crazy."

Wonder Woman of
the Marvel Superhero Collection

Trending styles do tend to change throughout the seasons, even in Florida, though these Southern Boys haven't noticed any particular geographical trends in preferences as yet. Perhaps predictably, the more floral, bright colours tend to sell better in the Spring, whilst dark colors sell more in the Fall/Winter.
This is something we know BowTieBanditz ignore with great flair, cutting a dash with colour, florals or monochromes at any time of the year!

Their all-time best-selling bow tie to date is the White Rose.
(Disclaimer: Cartel Bow Ties are in no way affiliated or sponsored by Marvel or Star Wars company brands).  
 
Dreams, Inspirations and The Future


Words, we do not need them

Cartel is optimistic about where they think BT trends might be headed and predict that the market for bow ties will continue to grow,

"... because of new innovations and creativity, giving the people more to choose from."

Judging by all of the great designers and outlets we've come across on both sides of the Atlantic, we agree!

We had a great time delving into the world of Cartel Bowties. As a self-respecting emerging design house, they have gained over 3000 followers on Instagram and Websta, as well as loyal, interactive browsers on INK361. But, they have their eye firmly on a particular celebrity who would be their dream live mannequin. Frantz confessed,

"I would love to see comedian Steve Harvey in my bow ties. I like his sense of style and love for fashion."

Well, we hear that his Day Time TV Talk Show is beginning to rival, if not overtake, Oprah's in popularity and influence! We could only find three pictures of Harvey in a bow tie, and they were all whilst he was attending super-formal occasions. So, if Cartel play their cards right, they still might get their wish!

At the 44th NAACP Image Awards 2013

And as far as designer peers go, they also have one whom they take particular inspiration from,

"Moziah Bridges. He’s a 12 year old CEO who managed to make an income of $150K making stylish bowties." (See our 2014 Round Up)

So, that was our BTB Profile 01 of Cartel Bowties, a brand new and emerging voice form America, having fun and spreading the joy. We're going to enjoy watching them grow!
And we're going to have fun profiling more BT Heroes...Maybe we'll stay home next time...

Follow @Fashioncartel_

 

BTB January News Round Up

Well, that's the first month of 2015 over and, even though it's gone so fast, we've managed to keep up with what's been happening in the Bow Tie world.

Missed From December 2014 were The Guardian's Fashion Hit List guide to choosing the colour of a bow tie to fit the occasion (Link); The Art of Bowtie - a piece on Jeremy Michael Calhoun, who is an artist with an interest in fashion, expressed through his collection of bow tie designs (Link); and an inspirational bow tie-related story, which suggested that Newark Central High School's newest tradition in donning bow ties once a week is having a massive cultural and social impact on their students: promoting a professional attitude with their attention to grooming (Link). Bow Ties - stylish and inspiring!


L-R: Newark Central High's Atkinson,
Smith and Vines continue a new tradition
and a new attitude

JM Calhoun's art-inspired bow tie range

January dawned.

We discovered that CBBC seem to be encouraging the next generation of English Gentleman bow tie designers when we came across The Friday Download's "How to Make a Bow Tie" (Link). We applaud them for promoting the bow tie "... goes with absolutely anything..." credo that we BowTieBanditz love!

Next, we entered into a little twanter (twitter banter???) with the good sports over at 2Paragraphs, who used their two-paragraph reporting limit to comment that bowtie-wearing Canadian soccer player Jordan Harvey "... looks better without the bowtie..." at his wedding (Link)! We couldn't have any hating on a potential BowTieBanditz Brother and duly tweeted so. They subsequently decided that, "... he looks amazingly different without it." We accepted their 're-assessment' as nicely done!

The Detroit News did a nice piece on Bethany Shorb, principal designer and owner at Cyberoptix, who hand-make our beloved accessory and other neckwear and is helping to re-write the economic history of Detroit by being based in the Eastern Market (Link). Go Cyberoptix!

Iian Mull's BT Line, new for January '15

In the face of the sometimes overwhelming bow tie tradition, designers continue to innovate: Beauhawk designer Iian Mull is subscribing to the new twist on the bow tie, developing two contrasting fabrications to allow the wings to contrast with the knot, the effect of which can also be reversed (Link).

Nice!

Things We Weren't Too Sure About...

Whilst knowing that our BowTieBanditz hearts lie with couture, we couldn't help noticing this polyester boy's bow tie at the knockdown price of £1.00 at Matalan (reduced from £3.00, Link). And then there came... Incredibeard! But only because Isahia Webb chose to celebrate the first Tuesday of 2015 as Bow Tie Tuesday... and fashion his beard into what could turn out to be a permanent accessory! Follow the Link to see for yourselves! And lastly, we discovered that Vladivostok, a bow-tie designer, launched a new line of jumpers (Link). Maybe it's because we wish there was a better word than 'jumper'. And, no, 'sweater' is way worse! Maybe we'll have to research the origin of the name...




Mr Churchill

Bow Tie News seemed to slow down as January progressed until GQ Style: Personal Style did their tribute to Winston Churchill on the 50th anniversary of his death (Link).This, of course, included his love of bow ties as supplied by @Turnbull_Asser . Do check out their Churchill Collection as they pay homage to one of the many greats they have dressed for decades.

In the meantime, we discovered some great things out there. On both sides of the Atlantic!

 

Designers and Retailers we Discovered:



Tickler's of London

Tickler's of London:
Makers of stunning bespoke bow ties in a variety of styles colours and block contrasts for a variety of occasions.
Follow @TicklersLondon

Nottingham Leaver's Lace by Marwood

Marwood:
Based in London and makers of the exquisite Nottingham Leaver's Lace neckties and bow ties.

Follow @marwoodlondon 

The Crystal by Marlon Gobel

Marlon Gobel:
You can't have failed to have notice our love affair with the Crystal Diamond Point bowtie created by Marlon Gobel for his NY Fall 2012 Fall The Heist show.
We started our twitter #CrystalBowTieForVAExhibition Campaign and contacted the office of the Curator of the Victoria and Albert Museum Metalworks Division, who deal with Jewellery. They loved our article (Link) and passed it on to the Boss and the V&A Press Office.

We had an email from the Curator this week forwarding an email we'd thought might never come, but which simply got lost:

We hope it's a non-committal way of saying he'll look into it, so that we might be able to report the campaign a total success in the future. Do keep tweeting the campaign!
Follow @MarlonGobel.

The Black Watch by Smart Turnout

Smart Turnout:
Based in London and purveyors of possibly the most comprehensive collection of club, clan, corps and other member's bow ties in existence.
Truly outstanding!
Follow @SmartTurnout


Beautiful wooden bow ties by Willow & Warson

Willow & Warson:

With outlets in Devon ,Bristol and London, this partnership make probably the most beautiful wooden bow ties - full of character in comparison to some other wooden bow ties. We will be catching up with them later in the year to get their full story.

Follow @willowandwarson

 

 

Bow Tie Eye

We want to get our Bow Tie Eye out and about, snapping you BowTieBanditz doing YOU on the streets of London, and feature any pictures you send us from there and everywhere else! Any time, any occasion!

From these, we want to do a small write up on our Pick of the Pics. For January, it's EASY!

We attended the British Urban Film Festival's screening of Selma at the Genesis Cinema in Stepney on January 22nd. There, amongst more conventionally tuxedoed and bow-tied gents, we came across Mr Cee, a comedian and BowTieBandit who loves the accessory for evening formal and informal wear, but rarely for day wear.

January BTB Pick of the Pics
Mr Cee, the Comedian

This is an absolutely stand-out look!

He told us that he had been looking for something specific in colour and texture for his bow tie choice for the evening. He searched and searched and could find nothing in a bow tie design that satisfied. He decided to make his own and went looking for fabrics.
Eventually, he came across a midnight navy blue silk necktie in Luton's TKMaxx store and immediately his vision clicked. He envisioned that he could create this wonderful chunky butterfly from an adapted necktie...
We tweeted his pictures the day after and posed a twitter challenge for you all to try and guess what was special about it. We wanted to reveale the answer in our Round up. But, DJ OhSoBlessed (@missBlessingZ from Manchester's Radio Diamond) spotted it at once and the two engaged in a bit of twanter. What a great eye!

Mr Cee's chunky Butterfly hand-tied from a necktie

The beautiful silk weave gives the impression of texture, which perfectly complements the Pringle jacket, patterned with palest blue spots and dark blue circles and geometrics against cream wool; the blue and white micro-check cotton shirt; and the midnight navy blue Zara cotton trousers. I think you'd agree, Mr Cee has taken the self-tied concept to a whole new level and has carried this look off with style.
He certainly deserves to be the sole feature on our Bow Tie Eye and our January Pick of the Pics! Follow him at @MrCeeComedian.

So, that was January 2015's BTB News!

Until our next post, check out our favourites on Pinterest:
Charles Olive
Plum Pretty Sugar
Antonio Centano